Notice the foreshadowing in the first section of Chapter 7 (pg. 191 in my version).
What is a gusla? What is significant about this item that makes it a great symbol for the story?
We seem to get a lot of extraneous information in this story, especially about Luka. Assuming that it is not extraneous -- that the author does, indeed, have a purpose for this information -- what would that purpose be? Why do we need to know that Luka is a homosexual? Why do we need to know about his goals and aspirations? Find a piece of information that you thought was pointless and try to figure out why that information might actually have purpose and meaning.
Why does Vera allow the narrator's grandfather to carry on a relationship with the tiger's wife?
Do you think Luka was killed by his wife? By the tiger? Or do you think he finally just left?
Why do you think the tiger's wife gave him the hair?
44 comments:
In my opinion, luka was killed by his wife. After learning of the story behind his marriage, and how strict his childhood was, his abuse in the marriage was obvious. Even though The tigers wife never knew for a fact that she was the unintended bride, she could she was unwanted, and luka made her feel that way. Eventually, she had enough, and decided to become a pregnant widow.
Vera allows the narrator's grandfather to carry out a relationship with the tigers wife because I think she feels bad for what she has been through. I also believe she can tell that the narrator's grandfather is very interested with tigers wife so she allows him to get to know her better while still helping her. Everyone in the town knows what the tigers wife has been through but they still don't give her any respect and still treat her terrible. I think Vera is just trying to help her out, especially since she also has a baby on the way. Vera understands what it is like to be a single parent with children and she is trying to lend a hand in any way that she can whether its food or just having some company.
I agree with Josh and believe that Luka was killed by his wife. After learning everything that happened in his past with his relationship with his wife and his past life it made it clear ti me what happened. Also, I agree with Olivia on the part of how everyone in the community knew what the tigers wife had been through and still treated her with disrespect. In my opinion, Vera just wanted to help the Tiger's wife because she is going to have a child soon and didn't want her to be alone. If it were me I would want someone to be their for me to have company, to help me raise a child, and to feel like I have someone on my side. I couldn't even imagine what it would be like to be a single parent and have a whole town treat me terribly.
I think the author told the story of Luka's upbringing to show the reader how Luka would latter become wife-beater so you could empathize with his situation. I say "empathize" and not "sympathize" because the point isn't to feel sorry for Luka, it's so the reader understands how Luka became the way he is so that we can understand his motives. The author is trying to teach the readers how the circumstances surrounding one's life can lead them to a dark place. We learn about the goals and struggles Luka had in his life and how they were crushed. We see his perspective as he lives in a society that finds him in a marriage to a woman he doesn't love, and how that leads him to then physically abuse his wife out of personal rage. It doesn't mean his actions are justified it just shows how we as a society play a hand in creating these people and what we could do to prevent abuse.
I think that Mother Vera pities the tiger’s wife since she is isolated. No one is willing to be by her and she can't even communicate to anyone. Natalia’s grandfather often visited her to make sure that she isn't alone. The poor girl was still very young, was abused by her husband, and pregnant. Mother Vera sort of took the tiger’s wife under her wing. Although Vera didn't exactly meet up with the tiger’s wife, she still wove warm hats and allowed Natalia’s grandfather to carry thick blankets to the poor girl in the winter.
I’m still debating whether Luka left, committed suicide, or was killed by the tiger. The only thing I am certain about is that Luka’s wife, the deaf-mute girl, did not kill him. She was terrified of Luka since he kept beating her so how could she have mustered the courage to kill him. Given that she did somehow gather enough courage to go against Luka, the tiger’s wife must have thought of the consequences of failing. Luka would've returned the favour tenth-fold. I am leaning towards the possibility that Luka ran away. Natalia’s grandfather mentions that the tiger “didn't mean any harm” to any of the townspeople.
I agree with the others that think that Luca's wife killed Luca. While reading about how horribly he treated her and how much he beat her, I could see how that would be a reason for Luca's wife to kill Luca. The girl had the courage to happily meet with a tiger, and those opportunities were taken away from her. Luca then beat her almost to death, so it is possible that she was so fed up with it that she killed him. Her struggles were also seen by Vera, so that is a strong reason for Vera to let Natalia's grandfather and Luca's wife to continue their relationship.
A gusla is a string instrument that you play with a bow. It is a traditional instrument and it is most common in the Balkans. The gusla is also used to tell stories with the music played on it which relates to the book in the sense that telling stories and listening to them, has a huge role within the book and the characters. The instrument is also seen as more "different" in the story but has a lot of potential to be great and play wonderful music. This relates to Luka because he has much more depth than what others think of him.
A gusla is a Balkan stringed instrument that is important to Balkan tradition and culture. I've noticed that this book is big on showing the tradition, and the gusla is a perfect symbol for this. It's used to tell epic poems and for entertaining music.
I also agree with Kim in that Mother Vera only allows him to keep a relationship because she feels bad for her, along with the rest of the village. The tiger's wife is so isolated that I think Vera thought it would do her some good to have someone to talk to or to just have someone around.
I thought it was pretty interesting how the author went into great detail about who Luka was prior to explaining how people in the town veiwed him. When first hearing how publicly known the fact that he beat/abused his wife, I was confused and annoyed at how rude he was. After reading through the troubles of his childhood and seeing the lack of love, encouragement, and suport he received from his family/parents, it makes a little more sence. Not that abusing someone is ever justified, but it proves the quote: "Hurt people, hurt people". I was also confused about how/why he married the deaf-mute girl if all he was going to do is give her bruises, but the background information cleared everything up for me. As to who killed him, I'm still not completely positive. I fully agree with everyone else on their leaning towards his wife, as she obviously would have reasons to do such a thing. Although, I still have hope that she wouldn't rise to his level of using violence to solve something.
It seems like the early part of this chapter is setting up Luca's character and showing us what he was like. It seems to be made so that we have sympathy for him, since his dreams were ruined when Amana died and he had to return to Galina to watch over his sickly father/wait for him to die. Although Luka had a really hard life, I don't think that justifies the way he behaved towards his wife, so I didn't really feel sympathetic for him after that.
I think that the tiger's wife probably killed Luka, or otherwise the tiger did. First of all, the book said she returned with a smile that suggested something new about her, and that it was evident that she was no longer afraid of him. This leads me to believe that she killed him because if he had simply left, she might still fear him because he could return. Or, the tiger could've done it, and she behaved this way because she was glad to be rid of him. Either way, I don't think he was still alive because I think she would've probably been less open about returning to the town and seeming happy. Considering the way he treated her, it makes sense why she would want to be free of him. For one, he abused her so many times, beating her up over and over, which must have been terrible to go through. She also may have known about the baby and wanted to protect it in case Luka were to try to abuse it too.
I don't think that all of the background information on Luka and his homosexuality were necessary to the plot; however, I think that they most definitely added to the story's themes. The background on him and all that he'd lost fleshed Luka out as a three dimensional character and showed that sometimes people can begin well-intentioned and end corrupted, just as in a way the tiger is seen as something evil even though it isn't really, even if it isn't necessarily good. Luka's past and hardships don't in any way justify the crimes he committed, but it almost plays out as a sort of warning. People can't let the things they lose build and grow and manifest themselves into something that hurts yourself or others. I think his story is meant to show also that even the most seemingly terrible people might have been different a long time ago. I think that people's pasts and hardships should always be taken into account, even though it doesn't give them a free pass to do whatever they want. I think overall that Luka's story is sad in all of its wasted potential- had certain events transpired differently, he might have been able to live happily and would never meet his eventual end. (Probably caused by his abused wife that's my opinion on that at least).
At first glance, I questioned why Obreht included so much information into this chapter. What is the point of writing so much information that results in a chapter of almost forty pages? Why does a majority of the information seem nonessential? After looking back at some of the information presented, I realized, despite how lengthy this chapter is, there is a point to some of it. This chapter illustrates how the unexpected shattered the characters’ perceptions of the future. For example, Luka hoped to marry Amana and live in a sort of companionship while they lived off of his inheritance from his father and made music. Yet, his perception of the future changed when Amana ran off with the miracle worker. Although this chapter seems so long-winded, every detail plays into the fact of how Luka reached his current state.
It's almost hard to say whether Luka was killed by his wife or by the tiger. I would bet that his wife somehow killed him after the abuse he put her through. The beatings she endured were enough to make anyone go crazy. It was almost hard to read about what he had done to her. Especially for a small 13 year old girl. Something inside of her may have just snapped and she went off and fought back. It's also very suspicious that when she came back she was so much happier and well looking. She was upbeat and comfortable walking around the village. She wasn't afraid anymore. She seemed to have full trust in safety, as if there was no way her husband would ever come back to harm her. Maybe she did tie him up and let the tiger take him away for dinner. It is hard to say that such a small child would be able to kill a grown man, but it isn't impossible. I believe in a way, the tiger's wife had some contribution to his death.
The story of the tiger immediately follows the story of the deathless man because there is a big connection. In the story of the deathless man, he says he fell in love with a woman who was very ill and needed his help. In the story of the tiger, the woman Luka plans to marry falls deathly ill. It is mentioned that the physician that comes to see her ends up falling in love and running away with her. The physician in this story is the deathless man.
I also believe Luka was killed by his wife. She has to deal with his constant abuse and once she learned she was pregnant, she knew she had to protect the baby also. She feared her baby might receive the same abuse so killing her husband was the only way she could assure her baby's safety.
I think there is a slight possibility Luka actually killed himself. He wasn't happy with his wife and was forced to live a life he never really wanted but did it for his family. Soon he began abusing his wife and after a certain point I think he didn't even recognize himself anymore. He says in the book that it even surprised him when he started abusing her. Maybe he really did leave but it could've just been so that his wife wouldn't have to find him dead in the house, he could've just done it outside. No one really knows though, and I think that's what makes it so intriguing, and the villagers like to gossip so if I lived in that town I wouldn't believe any of them. Especially because what they were saying about Luka's wife wasn't always true so why wouldn't they lie about what they saw with Luka? That's just my opinion anyways,but in the end there are so many possibilities to Luka's death and no one can for sure say what happened except for the author herself
“It would be easy for me to simplify the situation...it’s a lot more important to be able to say, “Luka was a batterer, and here is why’”(Obreht 191). Up until this point, we know Luka simply as the butcher who abuses his wife. As the quote states, it would be much easier to write him off as simply that and go on with our lives. It is important to look at a man like Luka and try to understand why he is the way he is. Obreht goes all the way back to when Luka was born and gives us every detail of his life leading up to Luka in the present day. He is shown as a boy with big dreams that were left crushed after the girl he planned to marry ran off. Not only were his dreams shattered, but he was then tricked into marrying a girl that he had no desire in being with. I can understand where Luka’s rage comes from, but I in no way condone his actions. I agree with Paul, Obreht gave us this information in order to empathize with Luka and understand how he became who he is. Some of the information may have seemed pointless at times, but it was all necessary to help us understand why Luka ended up this way.
I’m still on the fence about whether or not Luka left or was killed by his wife. After enduring so much abuse it’s hard for me to imagine her mustering up the courage to try and fight back, let alone manage to kill him. I’m sure she was aware of the consequences had she not succeeded in killing him; it was too risky on her part. On the other hand, maybe she had reached the point where she had enough and found the strength to kill him for all he had done to her. I’m leaning towards her killing Luka, but I would need more evidence to fully support that.
I believe that Luka's wife killed Luka and then had the tiger either take his body or eat what was left. With all of the beatings that she had received for nothing, she finally became fed up with him and most likely smashed his head in with a pot. With nowhere to hide the body, she called upon her friend, the tiger, at night and he would have probably either ate him or dragged him out to the forest. The book shows no evidence of Luka's wife committing the crime, but no one else in Galina cared about what he was doing to his wife. With Luka out of the picture the regular nightly visits from the tiger would be much more passive.
Both the deathless man and Luka are alone in their burdens. The deathless man struggles with his inability to age as Luka struggles with his unique dreams and emotions. The author included intricate details about Luka's past to create a window into why he abuses his wife. Luka takes out all of those little frustrations in his abusive behavior. However, I don't believe the tiger's wife killed Luka. Earlier on in the chapter, the tiger's wife aided her sister's escape and I believe she did the same for Luka. I think she felt responsible for the loss of Luka's dreams.
This may be a stretch but has anyone else considered an allusion to the Bible in these characters? I first noticed it with the deathless man's "uncle" but could the tiger's wife and the tiger also be symbolic?
I agree with everyone in the fact that Luka was killed by his wife. All the signs throughout point at his wife killing him. Also, the way he treated his wife could have made her have breaking point and she took it out on Luka.
A gusla is an a stringed musical instrument of the Balkans. The gusla is used in accompany to epic poems. This item is a great symbol for the story because the gusla is also a story teller of its own.
I believe that Vera allowed Natalia's grandfather to build and maintain a relationship with the tiger's wife for a few reasons. I think the main reason was because, as a former midwife and caretaker, Vera felt extremely sorry for the tiger's wife. Her sympathy drew her to send over the care packages, and to let her grandson form a relationship with the tiger's wife so she wouldn't be so lonely. After all, even before Luka died, the tiger's wife must have felt completely and utterly alone. Void of sound and unable to speak, she had nothing but her thoughts and distant, piece-of-crap husband, I can only imagine the solitude she felt. I believe that Vera recognized this, and so allowed Grandfather to continue visiting the woman despite the town's shock. In addition to that, I also believe that Vera didn't buy into the ridiculous rumors that the townspeople spread. There was quite a bit of superstition on their behalf, and I don't believe that Vera bought into those things and rather saw the reality of the situation.
Luka's wife is the most probable option in discussing who killed Luka. Therefore, I believe she killed him, but isn't that what the author wants me to think? It is a perfect place for Obreht to plug in a twist - maybe Luka ran away after finding out his wife got pregnant? I doubt it, but it is a possible situation. A gusla is a one-stringed instrument that Luka buys in this chapter. It is significant because Luka has always been a musical-friendly person and symbolizes Luka as a whole.
I agree with everyone who commented that Luka's wife murdered him. The tiger's wife was alone even before Luka died. She obeyed and did what her daily routine, but she was alone she could not speak or hear. I believe she killed Luka and if she didn't her tiger did. The tiger most likely took the body and ate the corpse or took it in the woods and the body disappeared.
I thought it was important that in the beginning of the chapter they set up Luka’s character because you really got to know why Luka had motives like abusing his wife and how the townspeople in the community viewed him. But it all makes sense why Luka would consider it normal to beat his wife because his childhood was miserable. The lack of love, support and encouragement he got from his parents is sad and the troubles he had to deal with at a young age made him turn into a hurting person. I agree with Josh and Morgan that Luka was killed by his wife. I feel bad for Luka because he just grew up messed up in the head, but at the same time his wife felt useless. The tiger's wife did not have any respect and she could not take getting treated horribly anymore she just needed to get rid of him. I also think she might of killed him because she knew she was having a baby and did not want Luka to even have a chance of abusing that baby and messing it’s life up also.
A gusla is a Balkan stringed instrument that is very important to the Balkan culture and traditions. In this book I think traditions have been a big important part of the backstory.
When I first started reading this chapter I was so confused as to why it was all about Luca. I didn't even think that Luca was a big enough character to deserve a whole chapter. Then I realized that this had something to do with the tigers wife. It said how he had always been abusing her and just a mean person to her in general. To know how someone gets that way you have to look at their childhood. So when the narrator was explaining how he was a brother to 4 others and he grew up being a butcher he sounded like a stable kid who wouldn't beat his future wife. The it tells us how he is a musician and he loves to write love music and then I was for sure confused how he became the man he is now. Then it gets to the part where you put it all together. He meets a girl and becomes best friends. He loves her as much as a friend can love someone and her to him. Then all of his brothers die and he is responsible for carrying on the family name. Now right off the bat he probably would preferred someone else to marry, but his friend was already there. They decide to marry and plan their wadding and boom, she commits suicide the night before and Luca didn't even now about it. He marry's a total stranger, who is not only a child but is also def. Thats when the rage starts and thats when you put it all together. We needed to know this because it leads into the Tigers wife story and her backround.
I think Vera allows the narrators grandfather to carry on a relationship with the Tigers wife because she sees a girl in need and she wants to help. Vera sees the good in people and doesn't believe all of those made up stories. She knows that the Tigers wife is in need for another person to be with rather then just a tiger. She needs a humans company. Especially if she's pregnant!
I don't think Luca was killed by his wife. I mean if you think about it, Luca has been abusing her all this time and she would just now decide to do something about it. And the only reason Luca married someone was to carry on his name with a child. Personally, I think he got her pregnant and ran. He did what he had to do and left. I don't think anyone killed him, and if they did it wouldn't have been her.
I think the Tigers wife gave the grandfather hair because she knows how interested he is in the tiger. He "reads" or shows her stories of him from the jungle book everyday! She probably suspects that that is why he goes there everyday is to see the Tiger.
I agree with Paul, we are told about Luka’s life to empathize with him. Knowing about Lukas background with his father and knowing the story of how he married the mute/deaf girl helps me understand why Luka isn’t happy with his life. The main reason I believe the author told us that Luka is homosexual is so we understand one of the many reasons he is so unhappy in his marriage and possibly one of the reasons why he didn’t get along with his dad. We need to know his goals and aspirations because we see that that’s what led to the downfall to not only the career he was making for himself but also his life in general. We are told all of this to explain why he has so much anger that he decided to take out on his wife.
Had to jump in on on this one. I personally think it's pretty strange that people bury people in coffins and what not, especially coffins that are made up to be nice. As if the dead are gonna care about how they're chilling out until the bacteria eats them. Also, embalming is pretty gross, but I understand why we do that, only because in the back of an old church I used to go to as a child before our pastor retired their was an embalming station, and boy, did it STANK. Anyway, yeah, evidently the source of many vampire myths comes from pre-embalming days, where the bacteria would eat away at the corpses, causing the eyes to go all bloodshot, the lips and stomach to swell up, the hair to decay, the skin to go grey, and a bunch of other gruesome details involving lots of blood, unfortunately. Ah, the pre-sanitation days. Anyway, how I'd like to be buried is pretty simply- before I die, I'm going to build myself a freaking canoe, and that's a promise. Then I want the canoe to be covered in gasoline and kindling, have my body put to rest in it, then sail it off into the ocean before shooting it with one of my flaming arrows, viking style. Or kind of like how Boromir died, if you get where I'm coming from. Just, minus the orcs. Or, come to think of it, keep them, it'd be freaking amazing to fall in battle against a bunch of elf demons, while blasting at the horn of Gondor like some 80's rock band. That'd be really gnarly. I'm not kidding about any of this, by the way, and if you think I am, you can contact me. I won't tell you how, though, that's my business.
Wow second comment in this chapter alone. Anyway, so as to actual storyline-related things, I think it's pretty evident that Luka was killed by his wife. A similar thing happened in The Hound of the Baskervilles, though it was whacked all sideways, yet still quite parallel, if that makes any sense. And some cool tiger-related facts I learned from Seth Rogen- while he was filming The Interview, he had to use an actual tiger on the set. Evidently, the scene they were filming was at the worst possible time and place- Night on an open field, where and when tigers naturally do most of their predator-ing. Also, his tiger trainer didn't do his job, because his son "Has a much better relationship with the tiger." Pretty frightening stuff, but the way luka was killed, it weirdly half-fits into the facts this trainer was sprouting out. Also, out of curiosity because the subject was rekindled, I listened to a gusla- and unfortunately- 1/5 stars. Would not recommend. Now, on the other hand, Darude Sandstorm on the Kazoo? 8/5, would definitely stream at full volume.
Also, blue bag-
PULP FICTION
BAM
Looks like I cracked the case in absolutely no way whatsoever, rather I just made an appropriate analogy that in hindsight might be redundant cause it might not be appropriate to the situation.
ROASTED*
Man, I've really gotta force myself with this book. It just is not interesting. Not saying it's a bad book, but it lacks of the redundant fantasy lore nonsense that I love in books. As in, when I finished Return of the King, I read most of the appendixes too- evidently, the work "Tark" derived from the now-disappeared speech Sauron created of Mordor during the Second Age, before he was overthrown and that speech was lost to all but the Wise. It meant, derivatively, "Man of Gondor," like the Lord Faramir, or Isildur. Oh, and Mr Earl, if you're reading this, look up how to make a squared diamond pattern on a lathe. Boom, new nickname. Godspeed.
The story of the deathless man and the story of the tiger tie into each other. In the story of the deathless man, the deathless man is a physician who falls in love a very sick woman. In the story of the tiger, Luka becomes friends with a girl named Amana. They come up with a plan to have a mutual marriage since Amana has vowed to be a virgin her entire life. Two weeks before the wedding Amana gets really sick. She has a physician that cures her (for a short time), that she runs away with. The physician is the deathless man. Both stories involve a sick girl that problems seem to revolve around.
Due to the fact that the tiger's wife knew she was unwanted,and abused, I believe she killed Luca. She eventually wanted to become a widow rather than be in an abusive relationship with an unwanted husband. Luca's wife and natalie's grandfather's relationship was able to continue due to the fact that Vera was aware of what they were going through.
I think by showing so much about Luka's past, the author makes the reader see him in a different light. While it is clear that the way Luka acts is wrong, it is easy to see how the way his life went could lead to him having issues later on with accepting his past. I think by sharing that he is homosexual, it shines some light on why he never had any children and maybe why he never seemed to be able to love his wife. I dont think that his wife killed him because she was too accepting of the way he was, but i do think that she was relieved by his death.
I believe that Vera allowed Natalia's grandfather to maintain a relationship with the tiger's wife because it would help the both of them. Being the only kid his age in the village couldn't have been easy for Natalia's grandfather. He was the apothecary's apprentice, but there was something fundamental missing from Natalia's grandfather's childhood: other children. We know from earlier in the chapter that the tiger's wife was a child bride, thus missing out on her childhood. Vera must have seen when the poor girl was brought into the village as a child. Vera also knew, along with the rest of the villagers, that Luka was very abusive towards his wife. Now, with Luka out of the way (whether because of the tiger or his wife) Vera sees no reason not to help this poor girl. Knowing the special bond they have formed by the tiger, Vera provides her grandson and the tiger's wife with companionship.
I like how the story of the deathless man ties into the story of Luka and Amana. It was the deathless man who took Amana and screwed Luka over, and essentially created the plight of the tiger’s wife. The gusla is a good symbol for Luka’s story in my opinion because it has one string, which kind of speaks to the single path of fate that Luka has sealed for himself. The reason we needed to know so much about Luka is to demonstrate that all bad people aren’t bad just because they were born that way. It also lends some insight into the tiger’s wife’s story. So far, Luka’s story has been the most interesting part of this book, sorry. I think either Luka killed himself or left. I highly doubt the latter though. I think the tiger’s wife gave the grandfather the hair to show that she understood his stories and was grateful for the time he dedicated to her.
I feel like the gulsa is tied into Luka's life heavily. Just as the gusla has one string, Luka's life has one path whether he knew it or not. So many things happened to Luka that lead readers away from the thought of Luka becoming a butcher. From him being rammed by the young bull and being disowned, all the way to falling in love with a girl who loved him for his music, I thought Luka was going to be a musician. That was until, his to be wife committed suicide, and he was tricked into marrying a deaf 13 year old, and he was informed he was the last remaining boy to his fathers fortune. Luka's path looked like he was going to rebel against his family tradition, yet slowly became just like how his father was, a butcher and abusive. I think Luka left willingly. I feel like Luka was getting tired of living the life he was trapped in, so in the end, just left without looking back.
The gusla is a one-stringed instrument of the Balkans. The instrument is made of wood and is played with a bow. Luka plays the gusla as a way to express himself. He doesn't want to be a butcher like his father, he wants to be a peaceful, history-loving, music-admiring person like his mother. Luka tends to play really traditional, sad pieces. Sometimes he would make things up on the fly, but he tried to stay in the realm of more haunting songs, or songs with deeper meanings. His gusla allows him to be creative, and be himself. It's a way for Luka to be deep because the reality is that he has so much more to him than it would seem, much like the gusla.
So, it's pretty apparent that Luka is a troubled man. His past is a painful one, and I believe through his life he internalized that pain. There are people who are plainly born evil, but I believe events have the greatest influence on people and who they become. More important than events are how one reacts to the events, and internalizing the pain is definitely not the way to go about learning and improving from life's troubles. Bottling all those emotions up, I'm not surprised he snapped and would take it out on his wife. Even in today, we know LGBT people often have more mental issues and struggles with depression than heterosexual or cisgender people. Thankfully, our world is becoming more accepting, but the world Luka lived in would have criminalized that behavior. It leads me to believe he may have never had true feelings of love for this wife, making the abuse easier to commit and making his stress magnified for being a "broken person". I think it's very possible his wife killed him, but he could have just left by his own free will for her sake.
Luka wants to be kind and gentle, unlike his dad. On his traditional instrument, he plays sad emotional songs. He loves music, and I relate. It helps him convey his true self and his own feelings.
I don't know for certain, but my best guess is that The Tiger's Wife killed Luka. I think when people have children they will do anything to protect them, and if she found out she would have a child, it would be much better to raise said child in a world free from a father who would abuse him/her. I feel a bit of a connection between the two novels we have read this summer, specifically in the characters who can't communicate. I remember in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close how Oskar's grandfather couldn't speak. I'm not sure of the implications, but I thought I would point it out nonetheless because it might have some thematic connection I just missed in my cursory examination of the story.
I do think Luka was killed by his wife. I think she had good reason to kill him based on everything he put her through. I think the background information about Luka's childhood and having so many older brother's, showed that he wanted to have the masculinity of his brother's and father but he didn't. This reservation about himself and the cover-up of who he really was led him to beat his wife. I think Mother Vera allows the relationship to continue because Luka's wife just lost her husband and she doesn't want her to be alone.
I also believe that Luka was killed by his wife. It seems obvious that she would feel unwanted knowing that she was not the bride Luka intended to marry. Adding on top of that the fact that Luka was abusive just further leads me to believe that she was the one who killed him. Luka has a very complex story and sharing it helps readers to understand why he acts in some of the ways that he does. Since he is homosexual and hides many of his feelings and emotions it is easy to see how he would become stressed which would lead to his abusive behaviors.
I think the author's purpose for including so much background information about Luka is to explain his character and his behavior. Understanding his upbringing, how different he was from the rest of his family, how he hated the violence of their rituals, how he aspired to be a musician, how close he was to success and happiness: and how it was all destroyed. Forced into a marriage with a girl he did not know or want, stuck in a house with a terrible father, forced into a trade he hated. He is alone in a house with a wife he doesn't understand and is, deep down, afraid of. He is frustrated with his situation, and he lashes out. The author chose to include this information not to excuse Luka's behavior, but explain it.
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